Torak
Torak Torak is a fictonal character in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series by Michelle Paver and is the main character of the books. The first book; Wolf Brother, is about Torak and his struggle to avenge his fathers death with help from his friend and companion, Wolf. The rest of the series is about Torak's quest (with the help of his friends Wolf and Renn) to defeat the Soul Eaters, a group of former Clan Mages who broke clan law and became Outcasts, who now seek to control the forest. Background He was born in the deep forest away from the clans. His mother was of the Red Deer clan and his father was of the Wolf clan. We have yet to be told their names. When he was three months old his mother died and his father was unable to look after the child. Instead of killing him he found a wolf den where a mother wolf had given birth to a litter of cubs. He left Torak with the wolves for three months. During this time, Torak learned to speak to wolf; a skill which has come in handy throughout the series. His father raised him away from clans and hid his existence from them to protect Torak. However, when Torak was seven, his father revealed his existence to Saeunn, the Raven Clan mage. His father taught him many things such as basic survival skills, hunting, and respect for the forest. When Torak was old enough, his father tattooed him with Wolf Clan tattoos. Torak's father never told him about his past as a Soul Eater or about his mother and kept many thing from him. When his father was killed by a demonic bear, Torak swore revenge. This is where his adventures begin... Story Wolf Brother This is the first book in the series. It describes the journey to the Mountain of the World Spirit to ask for its help destroying the demon bear that killed his father. On the way, he befriends a wolf cub (Wolf), who becomes both his guide and pack-brother. Torak and Wolf are captured by the Raven Clan, where he discovers his father's dark past. To seek the help of the World Spirit, he must collect three parts of The Nanuak, which puts himself and his new friend in unimaginable danger... Spirit Walker When a mysterious illness threatens to wipe out the clans, Torak embarks on a journey alone to find a cure. However, he is taken capture by Bale of the Seal Clan. He is taken to the Seal Clan's island where he encounters the Seal Mage who promises to help him make a cure if he obtains the ingredients. Torak agrees and with help from Bale, he successfully gets the ingredients. During his time on the Seal island he discovers he is a Spirit Walker and can enter the bodies of other creatures while keeping his own thoughts. Meanwhile, Wolf and Renn, who were stalking Torak, begin to search for him only to discover that it is a trap and the Seal Mage is the one who is causing the illness by poisoning the berries. With help from Bale and Wolf, Torak defeats the mage and warns the others about the berries. Soul Eater When Wolf is captured by the Soul Eaters, Torak and Renn followed the tracks to the north in an attempt to rescue him. They find the White Fox Clan, who provide them with shelter, food, and clothes. The White Fox Clan warns him to turn back. Ignoring the advice, Torak finds the Soul Eaters hideout where he discovers the Soul Eaters plan to unlease demons on the world by sacrificing hunters-predators of the world-and they plan to control the demons with a Fire Opal. Torak eventually rescues Wolf and escapes, but the Soul Eaters mark Torak against his will as one of them. Outcast When the Raven Clan discover the Soul Eater tattoos on Torak, they make him an Outcast.Alone except for Wolf, he struggles to survive and flees to the reed beds of Lake Axehead.To prove to himself, as well as the Clans that he is not a Soul Eater, he cuts out the tatoo which he had been branded with in Soul Eater.He faces soul sickness,is tormented by the Hidden People,is hunted by the Clans.Meanwhile, the Viper mage,who is one of the Soul Eaters, stalks him in an attempt to control his powers.Bale sets out on a journey to help Torak and persuade the clans he is innocent, a feat that could mean their lives. Personality Torak is couragous, protective and loyal and fights feircely to defend those he loves or cares for.However his loyalty and emotions towards others can cause him to be reckless and impulsive at times,often putting his life and others in danger as he doesn't think things through and refuses to listen to reason at times.As he grew up away from society he often feels left out or 'different' and longs for companionship when isolated.However he does not dwell too much on this.He is a very practical person and as a natural hunter he is observant,patient and very intellegent, if not superstitious. In the beginning he was very niave and had never even heard of a demon,but his adventures have hardened him and earned him respect despite his fathers past. Skills Torak has many skills including the ability to talk to wolves through movement and howls. Torak also has the rare ability of Spiritwalking which is the abiliy to enter another living things body while keeping your own mind. Torak is also a confident hunter and tracking, has some experience in healing and herblore,archery,flectching, building shelters and basic survival skills which his father taught him.He is very in tune with nature and animals seem to like him (eg Wolf, Rip and Rek and the baby elk).He can also swim but ironically nearly drowns several times throughout the books. Relationships Father (wolf clan mage)Torak is very loyal to his father which is no surprise as he grew up with him away from clans in the wild and it broke his heart when he had to draw the Death Marks on his father.He takes great pride in his father and his father's knife.The whole first book details his loyalty towards his father as he tracks down the bear that killed him and slay's it.He does not allow his memories of his father to be tainted when he dicovers his past with the soul eaters. Mother (red deer clan)Torak has no memory of his mother as she died three months after he was born and his father refused to speak about her as it made him sad. So for much of his life she was just the woman who made his medicine pouch and later declared him clanless.She only becomes more real to Torak when Fin-kedinn tells Torak he is like her in many ways and reassures him of her love for him. Oslak When Torak entered the raven camp, it was Oslak who took him in and shared his home with Torak. He was generous kind and selfless,traits which Torak greatly admired in the man.When Oslak is ill, Torak tries to help him unsuccessfully and he dies.Torn by guilt, Torak vows to find a cure to the mysterious illness.Even though he had only known the man for several months, he clearly felt a strong bond with the man, and Oslak had influenced him greatly. Renn Renn is often described by Torak as small and warm. She has vivid red hair and pale skin, and is incredibly skilled with her bow, astonishing people regulary by making shots they think impossible.She is brave, quick-witted, clever, loyal and Torak's first and closet friend besides wolf. She dislikes it when people pity her, even Torak. She has a vast knowledge of most things, especially magecraft and demons, also the ways of the clans (Torak knows nothing of this as he has lived away from his clan all his life) which at the beginning Torak resents as he thinks her a know-it-all. But in other situations when she is absent he longs for her company as she would have known what not to do. Her father died when she was young killed by an avalanche, she never mentions her mother vaguely saying that she left her father when asked. She has one brother, Hord who is killed but before he died he claimed she was no longer his sister and he slapped her. This is because she betrayed her clan by helping Torak escape and Renn often says that it hurt to think about her brother. She and Hord were raised by Fin-Kedinn the Raven clan leader who is also their uncle, and father's brother. When Torak first met Renn he didn't trust her (perhaps that had something to do with the fact he was her prisoner), but he is grateful to her for saving him and wolf and for being fair (when he fights Hord she gives him a drink to strenghten him and improve his chances, and she says, 'it's only fair'), and despite himself he grows to like her. He accepts her skills particulary with her bow but in the beginning he intends to overpower and escape from her to find the mountain of the world spirit. They dislike eachother in the beginning, quarrel often and Renn calls Torak a coward, thief and liar. Wolf also hates Renn as she put him in a bag and jostled him around until he was violently sick. Renn tries to give Wolf food but he refuses it and will only eat it once her scent has been masked by Torak's, this hurts her feelings though she tries not to show it. She then asks Torak to tell Wolf that it was for his own good to make amends but Torak doesn't know how to, she eventually befriends the cub and is embarrassed when seen doing so by Torak. Wolf accepts Renn as the 'pack-sister' and his feelings towards her are that she can be cross but also kind and very clever, also that she is generous with her kills. Renn and Torak do almost everything together, but Torak sometimes insists that Renn stays behind as he is headed toward danger. Renn happens to be awfully stubbon and usually gets her own way as Torak can see she will not listen and there is no point in arguing with her. She is fiercely loyal to Torak as she has always felt different and cut off from her clan in a way so Torak is her only friend as she is his. When Torak leaves her alone she pursues him to warn him and to help, which she does often with her hunting and magecraft skills. Renn frequently saves him and he saves her in turn. She can't speak wolf and seeing Torak do so makes her feel left out and uncomfortable, she tries to communicate with Wolf but usually does something wrong and confuses him. This hurts her because she cannot and will not ever understand Wolf. She has a gift for magecraft yet is reluctant to practise it, she never explains why but it is because of her mother, who is a soul eater. This also explains why Torak felt he couldn't trust her in the beginning as she kept this secret from him, Renn is very good at concealing and hiding things.Saeunn the Raven clan's mage is always trying to teach her magecraft which greatly annoys Renn as she only wants to hunt, and Renn also hates being regarded as her apprentice which she refuses to be and her clan sometimes give her wary looks like the ones they reserve for the mage. Eventually Renn embraces her gift and when she says that she is a mage she knows and feels it is the truth. As the novels progress they become closer and there are small hints that there could be romantic feelings between them but they are both too embarrassed to admit it. This shows on numerous occasions when Torak looks at Renn and describes how beautiful she is, (Renn bears a striking resemblance to her mother who was immensly beautiful) and also when his kinsman, Bale, tells Torak that he is planning to ask Renn to stay with him and he wants to know what Torak thinks of that, this shows that Bale is aware that Torak likes Renn too. Torak becomes angry and jealous because when he looks at Bale he thinks that he is, handsome, older and part of a clan, and says that Renn can do whatever she wants, but when Bale asks is it fine with Torak if he does so Torak leaves saying that he needs to be alone which results in Bale's death. Torak thought that because Bale was older, handsome and part of a clan that Renn would choose him and leave Torak. Torak feels guilty for this and thinks it is his fault but he needs assurance from Renn so he tells her that they fought and Torak left. When she asks why thay fought he tells her it was because Bale was going to ask her to stay with him, this shows the depth of his feelings towards her and his jealousy. He then asks if Bale had asked her to stay if she would have.Renn tells him that she cannot possibly answer that. His feelings toward her are shown yet again when he pleads with Thiazzi to take him and to let Renn live instead, nothing matters to him except saving her even his own life. Bale Bale is Torak's only living relative and friend(that we know of)in the series.Torak's grandmother was Seal Clan which makes Bale his cousin.However when they met each other, they initially disliked each other and Torak is reluctant to befriend him and win his trust. However circumstances force him to work with Bale. Bale can be an awesome person and is constantly thinking about others however he has a tendancy to show off when it comes to water skills. Torak finds Bale is a good companion and eventually a good and loyal friend despite their bad beginning.This is proven when Bale travels up the craig to retrive Torak's knife in Spirit Walker and when he comes to help him in Outcast. Fin-Kedinn Torak is confused about his feelings towards Fin-kedinn.On the one hand he has great admiration for him and respects him completely.When Fin-kedinn fosters him he feels honured and pleased.On the other hand Torak fears him slightly and is perplexed by Fin-kedinn.He is somtimes unsure of what the man thinks of him and doubts his feelings. Wolf Like others that Torak meets in the series,he initially disliked Wolf when the two first met.However Torak grew fond of the cub and raised him.Wolf is often described as his guide and wolf/pack brother. He is dedicated and loyal towards wolf and is protective of him,perhaps more than anyone else. Wolf is rather playful and sometimes naughty but true to the end. Rip and Rek These little birds befriend Torak after a storm where he cares for them They were sent by Bale while Renn happened to be around, the birds used magecraft to help him recover from his Soul Sickness, but they never told him. Unlike most ravens Rip and Rek don't mind humans, and enjoy torturing Renn while Torak gives them food. Torak doesn't mind and enjoys the ravens' company but he avoids making a fuss over the birds when Wolf or Renn is around encase Wolf gets jealous or Renn suspicious.